Cook the Book: Cheese Bourekas

In Israel, bourekas are the quick breakfast or lunch of choice. These savory pastries made their way to the Middle East by way of the Balkans and can be filled with all sorts of cheeses and veggies. Janna Gur, author of The Book of New Israeli Food, includes several boureka recipes representing many of the filling combinations and doughs that make this pastry so popular.

These Cheese Bourekas are ideal for boureka novices who aren't yet ready to start making their own puffy pastry dough. Using the store-bought stuff, these bourekas are stuffed with a wonderfully salty mix of Israeli cheese including gvina levana, kashkaval, and brinza. These exotic cheeses aren't the easiest to find so ricotta, parmesan, and feta can also be subbed in. The cheese is bound with a couple of egg yolks and a bit of cornstarch, pinched into triangles of puff pastry, and sprinkled with sesame seeds before being baked.

Directions

1.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

2.

Beat all the ingredients for the filling until smooth.

3.

Roll the dough into a 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick sheet. Cut into 5-inch (12-cm) squares. Put one tablespoon of the filling in the center of each square, fold diagonally to form a triangle and pinch the edges together. Arrange the bourekas with sufficient space between them on a tray lined with baking paper.

4.

Brush the triangles with the beaten egg and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

5.

Bake for about 30 minutes until the bourekas are golden and plump and smell delicious.

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